Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Mike, there is no such thing as "spelled exactly as written here", since you did not include the niqqud, or "vowel points".

 

In general, the word KBD has a general meaning of "heavy", and it has an extremely wide semantic range in both modern and ancient Hebrew. The meaning of "impaired" comes from Moses' being described as "kevad-peh ukevad lashon", "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue", which is taken to mean that he was speech-impaired. Modern Hebrew has expanded this, using the same "heavy" for "heavy of hearing" and so on. The form KBDY that you asked about is the plural construct.

 

Another meaning of KBD, in both biblical and modern Hebrew, is "honor" or "respect", which can be used in many different ways. The form KBDY might be vocalized as "kabdi" – respect me, again, in either biblical or modern Hebrew.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: Mike Burke [mailto:michaelgburk AT yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 8:19 AM
To: Yigal Levin; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] כבדי

 

In this case, there is no particular reference.

I'm merely interested in the word's range of meaning, and whether it's changed over time.

What I should have asked was whether this word (spelled exactly as written here כבדי ) means "impaired" in modern Hebrew, and whether it once meant "honored" in ancient Hebrew?

 

If you could answer that question, I'd appreciate it.

 

Michael Gerard Burke

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From: Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 11:45 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] כבדי

 

Mike, if you really want answers to questions like this, you’re going to have to give us the reference.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mike Burke
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 5:17 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] כבדי

 

Does כבדי mean impaired?

 

Michael Gerard Burke

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